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PAGE 12, NOVEMBER 24, 2008, THE ISLANDER
“Goin* to
the Show...
♦♦
with...
Roland
Willis
QUANTUM OF SOLACE
Starring: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu
Amalric, Gemma Arterton & Giancarlo Giannini
Directed by Marc Foster
Written by Paul Flaggis, Neal Purvis & Robert Wade
Running Time: 1 hour, 56 minutes
Rated PG-13 - Violence
Quantum of Solace is the 25th
James Bond movie and is issued on
the 100th anniversary year of the
creator Ian Fleming. It is the sequel
to the wonderful Casino Royale
which featured Daniel Craig as the
new James Bond.
So this movie has been much
anticipated especially following the
media blitz of promising ads.
The theatre was full on a Satur
day afternoon but half of the audi
ence, those who appreciate a plot
and character development, were
disappointed. The other half just
loves Daniel Craig with his rugged
good looks, hard body and violent,
dangerous nature.
And, they see a lot of Daniel in
numerous fights, car chases, boat
chases, plane chases, exploding
buildings, running fist fights over
scaffolding and rooftops, and he’s
pretty good in the bedroom.
Craig admitted that his physical
preparation for Casino Royale was
“a walk in the park” compared to his
training for Quantum.
However the frenetic energy of the
movie leaves little time for a plot and
the characters cannot be developed
3dcmd CINEMAS
Sea Island Rd. at Frederica Rd.
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when given so little screen time.
In contrast, Casino Royale allowed
for a gradual introduction to the
new James Bond, to the beautiful
but complicated Vesper (Eva Green)
and their developing love affair, to
the duplicitous Mathis (Giancarlo
Giannini) and to the evil Le Chiffre
(Mads Mikkelsen) and his tears of
blood.
There is nothing like this in Quan
tum of Solace. Bond is supposed to be
on a revenge mission to track down
those responsible for Vesper’s death.
Characters and locations come
and go with bewildering speed and I
had no idea what was going on.
A Mr. Greene (Mathieu Amalric)
and a Mr. White (Jesper Christensen)
seemed to have been involved in her
death but in this movie they are
vaguely trying to overthrow the gov
ernment of Bolivia and place their
man, General Medrano (Joaquin
Cosio), in power in exchange for the
mineral rights to that country.
The beautiful Ukrainian actress,
Olga Kurylenko, plays a Bolivian
secret service agent Camille, and it
looks for a while that James might
be attracted to her. However, she is
in the first third of the movie and
in the last third but just disappears
from the middle.
The young, gorgeous Gemma
Arterton is briefly dragged in as
Strawberry Fields, a minor MI5
functionary, to give James some bed
room time.
Judi Dench appears as M in her
sixth James Bond movie. She is
exasperated with Bond’s tendency to
kill everyone who might offer some
intelligence information.
Somehow the great director, Marc
Foster {Kite Runner, Stranger Than
Fiction, Monster’s Ball), trips badly
here.
Perhaps the main screenwriter,
Paul Haggis, who wrote wonder
ful scripts for Crash, Million Dollar
Baby, Flags of Our Fathers, In the
Valley of Elah and Casino Royale,
had too much influence.
Or maybe the whole thing was a
rush job to separate a gullible public
from their hard-earned cash. Per
haps 007 is just not a license to kill,
but also a license to steal!
In the end we have no idea what
the title, Quantum of Solace, means
or fits into this jumbled story.
My extensive research reveals that
Quantum of Solace was the title of a
short story by Ian Fleming, which
was first published in Cosmopolitan
Magazine in 1959 and later in a col
lection of his short stories entitled
‘For Your Eyes Only’.
Quantum of Solace (Q) is defined
as a precise number defining the
comfort/humanity/feelings required
between any pair of people for love
to survive.
If Q is zero, then love is dead.
Clearly, this was not a spy story
and bears no relationship to this
movie. Crazy!
Quantum of Solace is a big disap
pointment. However, there is the
“Daniel Craig Madness” which has
infected the gentler sex.
For them I raise my rating to C.
□
Movie Night
at the Casino
Sponsored byjhe StrSimons Library League
" The Girl in
— wuir i the Cafe
' L ’ 1 ' 1 \ Wednesday,
December 12
7 p.m.
Casino Theater
The Girl in the Cafe." UK, directed by David
Yates. An aging, reserved and lonely civil
servant (Bill Nighy) falls for an enigmatic
i young woman. When he takes her to the G8
i Summit in Reykjavik, however, their bond
jis tested by his professional obligations. 94
minutes; Rated PG13.
Upcoming Movie Include:
Dec. 17 - Nowhere in Africa
Movies are free, but contributions are appreciated.
J
MOVIES INFO.
634-9100
BARGAIN
MATINEES DAILY
APPALOOSA (R)
Mon-Thurs 4:40, 7:20, 9:55
BOLT (PG)
Mon-Thurs 4:30, 7:00, 9:15
CHANGELING (R)
Mon-Thurs 6:45
THE DUCHESS (PG-13)
Mon-Thurs 4:10, 7:25, 10:00
MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE
2 AFRICA (PG)
Mon-Thurs 4:50, 7:10, 9:20
QUANTUM OF SOLACE
(PG-13)
Mon-Thurs 5:00, 7:30, 10:00
SECRET LIFE OF BEES
(PG-13)
Mon-Thurs 4:15, 9:45
TWILIGHT (R)
Mon-Thurs 4:00, 7:15, 9:55
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